The daughter of former slaves, Mary Jane McLeod Bethune became one of the most important black educators, civil and women’s rights leaders and government officials of the twentieth century. The college she founded set educational standards for today’s black colleges, and her role as an advisor to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt gave African Americans an advocate in government.
Ana Roqué de Duprey, a prolific educator, writer, and scientist, founded the first woman’s suffrage organization in Puerto Rico in 1917. Known as “Flor del Valle” (“Flower of the Valley”) for her work in botany, she strove to promote educational opportunities and political rights for women in Puerto Rico.
Known as the “Godmother of Title IX,” Bernice Sandler fought for women’s rights in education. After being denied equal access to teaching jobs at her university, Sandler took matters into her own hands. In addition to starting a social revolution for women’s rights, she became the first woman ever appointed to a Congressional committee to work specifically on women’s issues.
Teacher, lecturer, and author, Grace Frysinger supported rural communities throughout her career. She was known for her diverse work in home economics and active leadership of agricultural organizations nationally and internationally.
Adelina Otero-Warren, the first Hispanic woman to run for U.S. Congress and the first female superintendent of public schools in Santa Fe, was a leader in New Mexico’s woman’s suffrage movement.
Educator, soldier, and psychologist, Charity Adams Earley paved the way for African American women in the military, in education, and in her community. Her most prominent role was leading the first African American women unit of the army on a tour of duty overseas during World War II.
Dame Nellie Robinson, DC, MBE was a pioneer of education in Antigua who broke down class and colour barriers to help provide all children with access to education. She was the first woman to receive Antigua and Barbuda’s Order of the National Hero.
Pálné Veres was a Hungarian teacher and feminist who opened the first secondary school for women in Hungary in 1869 and founded the Hungarian National Association for Women’s Education.
Her school’s philosophy was that girls should be taught to be self-sufficient, and to learn to appreciate arts and culture while avoiding a tendency towards self-indulgence in luxury. Girls were to be taught to be direct representatives of God in their future married lives, and to embody Christian ideals in their behaviour. The school itself was divided into 11 grades: four in the elementary level, four at the intermediary level, and three in the superior level. The curriculum for the superior classes included Religious instruction; Hungarian Language; Hungarian Literature; Aesthetics; Pedagogy; Anthropology and Psychology; Logic; History of Civilization (partiularly as it related to women); Algebra and Geometry; German language; French language; Manual arts; Vocal and Instrumental Music; Gymnastics; Mathematics and Stereometry; Drawing.
Veres was disappointed at the high rate of departure of the students before the superior level, as the upper bourgeoisie and aristocratic parents of her students did not see a practical use for their daughters to advance beyond a certain age. The superior-level classes were seen as useful only for young women who intended to become school teachers themselves. Veres did succeed in influencing the upper bougeoisie and aristocracy attitudes, in acknowledging the benefits of education in general for children of both sexes.
Rapelang Rabana is a computer scientist, entrepreneur, and speaker who founded the learning technology company Rekindle Learning in 2013.
Zdeňka Wiedermannová-Motyčková was a Moravian teacher, editor and women’s rights activist. After teaching for several years, she began to recognize the disparities between male and female teachers, as well as between their students. By 1898, she was publicly calling for women to receive equal pay for equal work and campaigning for equal education for boys and girls. In 1902, Wiedermannová founded and became chair of the Moravian Teachers Union, whose goal was to professionalize teaching standards. In 1903, she opened a Girls’ Academy in Brno, hoping to later expand to include secondary education. Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire provided little funding for girls’ education, she held lectures to help pay the academy’s operating costs of the academy. It was five years before she successfully established the first girls’ secondary school in Moravia, in 1908.
That same year, Wiedermannová founded and became the editor of Ženská revue (Women’s Review), a magazine featuring articles on developments in the international women’s movement. In 1909, she retired from teaching to focus on activism and became one of the most prominent Czech feminists, presenting more than a hundred lectures during her career. She founded several women’s associations and in 1910 was instrumental in creating a regional umbrella organization, the Progressive Organization of Women in Moravia, which was actively committed to women’s suffrage and the integration of women into all segments of public life.
Wiedermannová-Motyčková was an active demonstrator at rallies and participated in petition drives to secure the vote for women. She participated in international conferences and sought connections with feminists in other parts of her country. From the onset of World War I, her activism shifted to humanitarian aid for the poor and for soldiers’ families.She died in 1915, only a few years before Czech women secured the right to vote in 1918.